Chapter 184
Chapter 184
Whatever the method, when I woke up the next day, I was the one moving Sara's body.
"You're back."
I sat up in bed, staring blankly at the sun rising outside the window, when someone whispered softly.
I turned my gaze. It was Ha-neul.
"......You knew?"
"There's no way I wouldn't recognize you."
......How in the world?
I knew those words were meant to be touching. But after seeing that side of Sara in the dream, they honestly scared me a little.
......Nah. No way.
No matter how I looked at it, there was no way I was popular with girls other than Sara. I wasn't about to entertain the thought that my original personality or Sara's looks were the cause.
Or, if I had to put my finger on it, did it come down to 'appearance'?
Well, naturally. Because Sara was a girl.
In the original story, Yu Ha-neul casually dated regardless of gender, and Ye Sa-ra was right there among Yu Ha-neul's romance routes...... but the current Ha-neul didn't seem to be on anyone's route. Probably because the future shifted on my account.
If I had to categorize it, maybe it's the 'Friendship Route.' Though as far as I knew, no such route existed in the original.
But this world is different from the original. Because I'm here.
Which meant there was a real chance the people here could reach a reasonably happy ending without having to go through anything too catastrophic.
And since I'm the one who dragged everyone into this in the first place, you could say the responsibility for making sure this story ends properly falls squarely on me.
Idiot.
......No, why?
*
Maybe it was because we'd talked things through with Sara yesterday, but Yang Hye-in's expression was much gentler than usual.
Was it possible that the blank expression she usually wore was just from walking around tense the whole time?
Since I still couldn't accurately read Yang Hye-in's psychology, I had no choice but to chalk it up as one of those things.
"Grandmother, you really don't need to pack this much for us."
Watching the grandmother pull out all sorts of items from the storage shed to load into the car trunk, like a parent sending a child back home after a holiday, Yang Hye-in said that.
"There's plenty of food back home too."
......She had a point.
A mansion that big wouldn't be short on food. And there was no way Yang Hye-in had done a sloppy job stocking it.
"No, I won't eat it if it sits around anyway, so take it and eat it. They're all delicious things."
That was also a fair point.
The grandmother's food was all delicious. Even without special culinary techniques or the most expensive top-quality ingredients, that distinctive home-cooked flavor was incredibly good. It was a taste I hadn't had much of since coming to this world.
"......."
The grandmother and Yang Hye-in went back and forth, offering and refusing, but they at least looked much more comfortable than when they'd first met. I guess blood really does show.
.......
I watched them for a while before drawing a deep breath.
Then I walked over beside Yang Hye-in and tapped her on the back.
"......Hye-in."
At the sound of my voice, I felt Yang Hye-in's body go rigid.
Was the word 'Big sister' really that shocking? Granted, we'd agreed to call each other that for the time being, but we'd barely used it since.
"Uh, yeah."
Uncharacteristically for Yang Hye-in, she stammered as she turned around.
A clearly flustered face.
As befitted a dating sim maid, her base visuals were so beautiful that even that expression looked pretty.
......Even the maid?
......What exactly do you mean by 'even' the maid?
Setting aside Sara's complaint of unknown origin for now, I spoke to Yang Hye-in.
"Let's just accept it. Grandmother says she wants to give them to us."
"That's right, Sara put it well."
The grandmother quickly latched onto my words.
"Just take 'em~ Once you have them, they'll all come in handy."
"......Alright."
Yang Hye-in seemed to decide to go along with what I said.
Well, informal speech or polite, Yang Hye-in was still Sara's maid. Since the grandmother wanted to give them, we were simply complying.
*
Inside the car on the way back.
I hadn't given it any thought on the way here, but I'd fired the chauffeur too. So naturally, Yang Hye-in had to drive. She was the only one here with a driver's license.
Was she even old enough? Or was she? I'm not sure. The age when I got my license was solidly adult, so I had no frame of reference.
Well, if I tried driving I probably could. Except I'm such an inexperienced licensed driver that I'd be guaranteed to get into an accident.
"Shall we hire more servants?"
They'd probably end up following us if we moved anyway, so I figured I'd ask.
"That won't be necessary."
Yang Hye-in answered immediately, so sharply that if there'd been a radish nearby, it would've been sliced clean in half.
"I will handle the work at the mansion."
"I see......."
The problem was, even while answering that sharply, Yang Hye-in's expression reflected in the rearview mirror looked incredibly at ease.
......Which somehow made it even scarier. How to put it—that vibe, that she had to handle every task related to me personally, that it was only natural for her to do so, was just too palpable.
Could it be that the effect of what Sara said yesterday was just that good?
"......."
Almost enough to leave me in the back seat, Ha-neul, Su-a, and even So-hee in the passenger seat all at a loss for words.
My reason was different from theirs. I sensed something ominous in Yang Hye-in's expression. For the others, it was probably just the sheer rarity of seeing that kind of look on her face.
......Jeez.
Still, at the end of the day, a maid is a maid.
A maid's duties are set, yep.
No matter what, could she possibly do more than she already has?
Because a maid is still a maid.
Ah. I got so nervous I repeated myself.
*
And,
of course,
as always happens,
my prediction veered straight off course.
After a long stretch of driving, we stopped at a rest area to get some fresh air.
Someone beside me held a churro right up to my mouth, so I took a bite without thinking. When I lifted my gaze, it was Yang Hye-in.
"......."
Unable to bring myself to bite off the churro, I just stared wide-eyed up at Yang Hye-in.
Ah. Right.
Not that Yang Hye-in had never fed me before. Back when I first woke up, when she'd decided my mind and body hadn't fully recovered, she'd spoon-fed me porridge.
But back then, Yang Hye-in was practically the only one around to help, and in a sense, I was genuinely sick...... More than anything, she'd been worried about getting fired at the time, so you could say she did it because she was afraid I'd spill the porridge and hurt myself even more.
But holding food up to my mouth while I was just sitting on a rest stop bench......
Hm.
First, I bit off the churro.
I decided not to ask for a reason.
There were too many reasons I could already guess.
......So what are you going to do now?
About what?
Sara answered my question.
No, you're the one who made her like that. Can't you try to do something about it?
......Don't want to.
Looks like she's scared right now too.
"It's, it's tasty......."
When I said that, Yang Hye-in smiled brightly.
No, seriously, why does a smiling face look this terrifying?
I quickly averted my gaze and saw that Ha-neul, So-hee, and Su-a also seemed to have noticed the slightly strange aura radiating from Yang Hye-in.
"......."
But there didn't seem to be anyone who could step in between us right now. Yang Hye-in hadn't done anything wrong, after all.
"That's a relief."
Yang Hye-in said that, and then held the churro back up to my mouth.
What is this.
I feel like I've turned into a baby bird being fed.
No, more than that.......
Something is, just something, somehow. Something.
I don't know what I mean by that either, but that's how it was. A kind of bewilderment I can't put into words.
......Ah.
......Ah!
Only then did I realize the cause of that bewilderment.
......To the point that I didn't even know why I was only seeing it now.
Light shines from the faces of people who can change my life, and by extension, Sara's.
And that light can vanish, or it can appear anew.
Too bright and it's dazzling, but it wasn't a physical light. It didn't cast shadows or light up dark spaces. The light only became visible once I'd accurately registered the exact position of that person's face.
So naturally, I hadn't seen any light on Yang Hye-in's face in the rearview mirror.
No, I hadn't noticed before we got in the car either. Maybe this, right now, this action, was the decisive factor.
......To think the person whose face I've seen the longest since coming to this world would be the one I finally see light shining from.
It's ironic. And when I think about it, it also makes perfect sense.
At the same time, it was also a little frightening.
How should I put it—those eyes......
Yang Hye-in, who had almost never smiled until now, had a beaming smile that looked dangerous in more ways than one. Though exactly what that meant, I couldn't say at this moment.
"Ha, hahaha......."
In the end, with nothing to say, I had no choice but to laugh it off awkwardly.